Rice farmer hangs himself over mounting debts

A police investigation found that Chid Chusri left home on Wednesday night to “check on water pumps” and didn’t return. His relatives went looking for him and found his body hanging from a tree in his rice field at 8.30am yesterday.
His older brother, Siplapachai Chusri, told police that Chid had been under a lot of stress because he had debts amounting to Bt700,000 – more than Bt400,000 of which was owed to a local branch of Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BACC). He said Chid had recently borrowed Bt7,000 from a relative to pay the bank’s debt interest.
Chid had been among a group Tambon Ban Bung villagers who joined forces two months ago to ask provincial and government officials for relief from their debt burden.
Thitikorn Sansuwan, manager of the Khamang branch of BACC, said Chid owed the bank Bt440,000 and paid Bt4,919 in interest on Monday, so the bank postponed his debt repayment until next year. The bank said it would provide Chid’s family with Bt70,000 for funeral assistance, he said.